Call for Papers—The Return of the Fifth Column
For over 35 years and some 80-plus contributions, Gene Woolsey (former editor in chief of the INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics) penned “The Fifth Column.” Today, IJAA is bringing back the “Fifth Column,” but with a submission process. We encourage submissions from industry, government, and academic practitioners of analytics, broadly defined.
As was the case previously, “The Fifth Column” will focus on:
lessons learned by analysts on how to be a successful analyst
editorial pieces on the state of the field of analytics
thought leadership on the analytics process and what causes successes and failures
misapplications in which there is a significant lesson
Insights for “The Fifth Column” may come from a single project or from decades of experience. Thought leadership and editorials should use logic and data to make their cases. Historically, Fifth Columns have been in a storytelling format, but that is not required. The new column will follow the same submission guidelines and style as other IJAA submissions, but no verification letter is required.
Below are a few examples of past columns by Gene Woolsey:
“The Fifth Column: Consulting Survival in the Case of Incompetence, or The Iron Law of Consulting,” Interfaces, 38(2), pp. 150–151.
“The Fifth Column: Production Scheduling as It Really Is,” Interfaces, 12(6), pp. 115–118.
“The Fifth Column: On System Acceptance,” Interfaces, 16(3), pp. 55–59.
“The Fifth Column: Reflections on the Past of Scientific Management and the Future of Management Science,” Interfaces, 6(3), pp. 3–4.
Please note that papers that describe the novel use of analytical techniques and the impact on the organization are more appropriate as practice abstracts or regular IJAA submissions.
Questions? Email Jeff Camm, Contributing Editor, The Fifth Column @, fifthcolumn@informs.
